Oilers C Connor McDavid's image and promise are "already being used to sell hockey gear, banking services and trading cards," and it "doesn't take much imagination to see why his endorsement income already tops his $832,500 base salary," according to Nathan Vanderklippe of the GLOBE & MAIL. McDavid is beginning his second NHL season, and his reps are positioning him to "be a global hockey icon -- as potent an ambassador for the game as he is for the brands he reps." McDavid is the first active NHLer to go to China "for an official visit," as he was there promoting sports nutrition brand BioSteel, one of "eight endorsement deals the 19-year-old has signed over the past five years." McDavid now "spends 18 days a year devoted to BioSteel and his other sponsors, posing for pictures, signing autographs, attending events and shooting commercials." He also "works with a production company that his team hires and that lets him retain rights to potentially valuable outtakes." His deal with equipment manufacturer CCM Hockey is reportedly worth C$1M, though both CCM and McDavid's agent, Jeff Jackson, "balk at that figure." In one of the four Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce commercials he has shot since signing with the bank this past March, McDavid "trades barbs with his brother and a penguin." The ad has been "commercial gold." CIBC Senior VP & CMO Rob Assimakopoulos said the bank has counted social media engagements from its McDavid campaign that "shatter all the benchmarks we've seen" (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/4).
